Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 1860
The first reading of an ordinance that would raise Petersburg electric utility rates by 4% starting on July, 1, 2026 came before the Petersburg Borough Assembly at last week’s meeting. The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted 7–0 to advance Ordinance 2026-08, which updates electric utility rates and charges for fiscal year 2027. The increase was identified through the borough’s Waterworth financial forecasting software, which Utility Director Karl Hagerman implemented last year in place of the previous rate study process. For a typical residential...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved the first-reading of an ordinance increasing the borough’s marine passenger fee by $3 per passenger, from $5 to $8, effective January 1, 2027. The fee is assessed once per cruise on marine passenger vessels upon first entry into any borough port. The borough has collected the fee since March 2018, using it to offset costs tied to cruise traffic — including restroom cleaning, janitorial services, library operations during the tourist season, and bridge and trail maintenance. The ordinance cites substantia...
Congratulating our teachers To The Editor: The Petersburg Children’s Center administration, including the Executive Director and Board of Directors, would like to congratulate our lead teachers for completing their Child Development Associate (CDA) credentials. This is a nationally recognized certification and it provides peace of mind that our staff are qualified, caring and amazing. Help us congratulate them on this feat! We will be working on getting all of our staff credentialed in the near future. With thanks and pride, Sharlay Mamoe a...
WRANGELL — Officials from the Southeast Alaska Power Agency and the Wrangell borough are working on a plan to bring a solar farm and battery storage system to the island, a move aimed at stabilizing the power grid. The regional power provider is looking for federal funding to pay most of the cost. The solar panels and batteries are estimated at $6 million. The project was the centerpiece of a town hall meeting May 6 at the Nolan Center, where roughly 25 residents gathered in person and online to hear about the future of their utility s...
Construction on a long-planned sewer line repair project at the Petersburg Community Aquatic Center will begin May 18, and the pool will close for at least the first month of work as contractors cut through concrete slab floors to access blocked and disconnected drain lines beneath the locker rooms. Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Payne told the Petersburg Borough Assembly on Monday that the project, carried out by Ketchikan Mechanical Inc. and Rainforest Contracting, will run through...
Petersburg’s street sweeper is back on the job after a weeks-long breakdown, as the borough and the Alaska Department of Transportation race to clear months of accumulated safety sand from local roads ahead of Little Norway Festival week — and ahead of the annual repainting of lines on the state’s highways. The heavy sand load is evidence of the region’s punishing winter. Relentless snowfall through the season required repeated applications of sand and grit to keep roads safe, leaving more material on the ground than a typical year. Getting...
The U.S. Forest Service is organizing a push to clear invasive plants from the lower Raven Trail this month, with volunteer opportunities open to the public. Forest Service invasive species coordinator Joni Johnson told the Petersburg Borough Assembly on Monday that two maintenance problems have been building along the lower trail: the spread of invasive non-native plants, and sod-forming vegetation encroaching on the trail tread itself and contributing to erosion. Reed canarygrass, she said,...
A Silicon Valley company and a Petersburg-raised developer are teaming up to bring a small artificial intelligence data center to the former Ocean Beauty pier and cannery facility, a proposal that drew both cautious enthusiasm and skepticism from the public at last week's borough assembly meeting. Sam Anoka, founder and CEO of Greensparc, addressed the assembly April 20 via Zoom, outlining plans to deploy what he described as a micro-scale data center at the property owned by Andrew Mazzella,...
Construction has begun on the expansion of the Tlingit and Haida Airport Subdivision near Mountain View Manor, and the first visible sign of that work - the removal of roughly 300 feet of the area's popular boardwalk trail - has prompted some dismay from residents who say they were caught off guard by the closure. The boardwalk trail section that runs through the muskeg from the Mountain View Manor area toward the Hungry Point Loop trail will remain closed to the public for the duration of...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved a joint resolution last Monday with the City and Borough of Wrangell establishing a framework for sharing hydroelectric power from the Tyee Lake project and coordinating future energy-intensive economic development. Wrangell Borough Manager Mason Villarma, in a March 24 report to the Wrangell Assembly, described the resolution as formalizing “a proactive framework for collaboration as both communities pursue energy-intensive economic opportunities.” Villarma framed the agreement as set...
Petersburg's Borough Assembly on Monday unanimously approved a highly anticipated lease agreement with American Cruise Lines, a small cruise ship company that frequently stops in Petersburg. It's increasing its summer visits to town, and wants to build a cruise ship dock for its small passenger ships in Petersburg. The Borough will lease part of its tidelands at the end of Dock Street next to the U.S. Coast Guard Dock to the company, which will build a mooring float and gangway there to support... Full story
The U.S. Forest Service is bringing its Tongass National Forest Plan revision process to Petersburg this week, with an in-person community workshop scheduled for 5-7 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in the Borough Assembly Chambers. The event is part of a series of workshops running across 19 Southeast Alaska communities through early May — a rare opportunity for the public to provide direct input before the agency completes a draft plan. Revision coordinator Erin Mathews described it as “a bonus” engagement round not typically built into the feder...
Petersburg's new utility director, Steve Harbour took the podium at the March 16 borough assembly meeting to address what he recognized as a public information problem. "In the two years I've been at Power and Light, I've built up a lot of questions and heard a lot of misinformation," said Harbour, "Nobody's fault. I worked pretty close with Power and Light for years as an electrician, and I couldn't answer some of the stuff I'm going to talk about tonight." The 45-minute presentation that...
Petersburg police, fire and EMS personnel conducted a multi-agency active threat training exercise at Stedman Elementary School after school hours on Wednesday, April 15. The Petersburg Police Department issued a public service announcement ahead of the exercise alerting residents that emergency vehicles and personnel would be visible in and around the school and asking the public to avoid the immediate area. The drill was organized by Petersburg Police Sgt. Drew Ayriss and EMS Coordinator Ryan...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously last week to sell two borough-owned parcels to local developer Dave Ohmer for $61,800. Ohmer plans to build a duplex on each property, which are on Haugen Drive near the hospital WERC building. Ohmer has not signed the deeds yet, but he told KFSK he was happy the contract specifically outlined that the property would be used to build housing rentals. “I hope this is a bit of a template for them to do this with a lot more people around town, and try to get lots into private hands,” Ohmer sai... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously Monday to support House Bill 78, legislation that would restore a defined benefit retirement option for Alaska public employees and teachers — and added language calling on the Legislature to reject an amendment that critics say would burden local governments. Resolution 2026-10, passed at the April 13 regular assembly meeting, expresses the borough’s support for HB 78, which would allow employees in the Public Employees’ Retirement System Tier 4 and Teachers’ Retirement System Tier 3 to opt...
After more than three decades of planning, Petersburg’s Scow Bay marine facility project is approaching construction, and the borough has begun the process of clearing the site — notifying businesses leasing borough-owned parcels at the location that their leases will end this fall. Harbormaster Glo Wollen sent letters April 3 to tenants at the Scow Bay site outlining a schedule that calls for all leases on borough property there to end Sept. 30, 2026, at the earliest. Tenants then have 60 days under their lease terms to remove equipment and...
Molly Taiber recently returned from Juneau, where she spent several days this legislative session doing what she has done every year for the past six years: sitting across from state legislators making the case that Alaska’s public employees are heading toward a retirement they will not be able to live on. For most of Alaska’s history as a state, a career in public service came with one of the better retirement packages in the country — a guaranteed pension that rewarded workers for building careers in Alaska. That system was dismantled in 20...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously Monday to formally oppose three proposals before the Alaska Board of Fisheries that would impose broad restrictions on Alaska’s private nonprofit salmon hatchery system — measures that Assembly Member Bob Martin, who brought the resolution forward, called the latest iteration of proposals that fisheries stakeholders across the region have consistently fought off. Resolution 2026-06 directs opposition to Board of Fisheries Proposals 170, 171 and 172, which are scheduled for consideration at the...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly directed Borough staff on March 2 to start rewriting part of its zoning code to be implemented beyond municipal limits. The move follows months of work and deliberation over potentially updating Petersburg’s zoning code as the Borough navigates emerging concerns about constructing new communications towers in the community. Zoning determines how property can and cannot be used. Different types of zoning allow for different uses, and some require landowners to get permission from the municipality for certain p... Full story
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously Monday to extend the borough’s municipal solid waste transportation and disposal contract with Republic Services for one more year, buying time while a regional study examines longer-term alternatives for Southeast Alaska communities. Petersburg’s garbage is baled at the local baler facility and shipped via container to the Roosevelt Regional Landfill in Washington state, with Republic Services handling transportation and disposal. The contract extension runs from September 1, 2026 through the e...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly authorized an agreement with Axon Enterprise Inc., earlier this month, which provides the equipment and services that Petersburg’s Police Department uses. Under the agreement, the Borough would pay a $378,897.58 quote gradually over the next decade. Police Chief Jim Kerr said Monday that they typically do shorter contracts with the company. But this extended version that AXON offered includes some perks, especially for routine equipment replacement. “If they have a new technology that comes out, since we hav...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously Monday to extend the Petersburg Economic Development Council’s lease on the community cold storage facility for another five years, while also removing language from the lease that had prohibited seafood processing at the site. The lease extension runs through January 31, 2031, and maintains the $1-per-year rental rate that the assembly has held steady since the original agreement between PEDC and what was then the city of Petersburg was signed in February 2006. At each five-year interval s...
School funding has long been a balancing act, but now Petersburg stakeholders have been invited to weigh in on the Petersburg City School District budget by using the Balancing Act budget simulation tool. At the annual joint work session between the borough assembly and the school district, Shannon Baird, Director of Finance for PCSD, gave a walkthrough of the school budget situation for fiscal year 2027 and how the public can learn more about it and provide their suggestions through the balancing act tool. Balancing Act is an interactive...
Petersburg’s fire and emergency services department is heading into this spring’s borough budget planning cycle with several additional funding needs: a replacement of breathing equipment used by every firefighter entering a burning building, a forced relocation of the department’s training tower, and a push to update emergency plans that have gone largely untouched for more than a decade. Fire and EMS Director Aaron Hankins laid out the challenges at last month’s Public Safety Advisory Board meeting, where he was joined by a contrac...
